Sports
Marrying love of music and sport
D.C.’s Different Drummers director makes connection via football
Charles Roth, the marching band director of D.C.’s Different Drummers, says music has “always been in my bloodline.” His father began playing the guitar at age six and passed along his passion for music to Roth. Music gave Roth “a sense of zen” while he was growing up but he was still plagued by a fear he wasn’t brave enough to confront.
Roth was scared to play sports in school.
Growing up in Dayton, Ohio, Roth dreamed of playing on his high school track or football team. Instead of trying out for the teams, Roth pushed his love for sports to the side.
“When I was in high school I was not out. I was very reserved. I was scared to take part because honestly the people that were bullying me were taking part of those sports,” Roth says.
According to the study, 32.5 percent of LGBTQ students avoided attending P.E. classes, 39 percent avoided locker rooms and 22.8 percent avoided school athletics fields and facilities.
Roth’s story isn’t unusual. In a study byGLSEN on the experiences of LGBTQ students in student athletics, LGBTQ students were found to not be receiving the same benefits of physical education and sports as non-LGBTQ students.
LGBTQ students were found to also be underrepresented on sports teams. Only 23.2 percent of LGBTQ students participated in interscholastic school sports, 13.4 percent played on intramural sports teams, 8.2 percent played on both interscholastic and intramural teams and only 6.1 percent of LGBTQ student athletes served in leadership positions.
Roth eventually came out at age 19. As he got older, he joined LGBTQ sports leagues, specifically a volleyball league, in Dayton.
The league opened him up to not only the world of sports but to his sexual identity.
“You don’t only have the LGBTQ community in the [leagues] but you have straight allies in there too. It’s not just gay or lesbian specific. When you have that, it is more open and free to be yourself. It’s very collaborative. You’re working amongst each other as a team, as a family, as a unit,” Roth says. “When you have that in the LGBTQ sports league of X, Y, or Z you’d probably find that open-mindedness to be more empowering that what you’d find in an hetero league.”
Roth moved to the D.C. area three years ago and joined local LGBTQ softball and volleyball leagues. He developed an interest in flag football and joined the D.C. Gay Flag Football League. While on the flag football team, he was reconnected with his first love of music.
“It was actually through the D.C. Gay Flag Football League I met friends that are musicians who also knew D.C.’s Different Drummers and that they had a vacancy for their director position. So I inquired to learn more about them and next thing you know, boom, all of a sudden just from a connection playing sports in the area I became part of D.C.’s Different Drummers,” Roth says.
Now 33 years old, Roth lives in Alexandria, Va. and teaches music. He’s also able to marry his passion for sports and music by playing on LGBTQ sports leagues and serving as marching band director for D.C.’s Different Drummers.
However, Roth says it’s important to note that marching band should also be considered a sport.
“People don’t think marching band is a sport, which I think is a bunch of hooey. If you put yourself onto a parade such as D.C.’s Different Drummers and march for three to four miles while dancing and singing and playing the actual horn that’s going to take a lot out of you,” Roth says.
In the coming months, Roth plans to play for D.C. Pride Volleyball League, the Chesapeake & Potomac Softball League, Stonewall Dodgeball and the DC Gay Flag Football League.
He encourages anyone considering trying a new sport or instrument to ‘be brave” and just do it.
“Whenever you’re trying something new you have that voice in the back of your mind challenging you or putting hesitation into your system. But when trying something new, regardless of whatever it is, it’s trying the unknown and seeing what it can become. My advice would be jump in and have no regrets,” Roth says.
It’s advice Roth sometimes wishes he had taken back in school.
“I feel like to a point I’m trying to catch up on a childhood that I felt like I couldn’t take part of. For me, that’s a very emotional thing because, looking back at it, if I could have been so much more brave and outspoken and not worry about what others may do or think of myself, coming out as a gay man, that would have changed the whole thing,” Roth says.
As an adult, Roth is finally able to live his dream.
Sports
New IOC policy bans trans women from Olympics
New regulation to be in effect at 2028 summer games in Los Angeles
The International Olympic Committee on Thursday announced it will not allow transgender women from competing in female events at the Olympics.
“For all disciplines on the Sports Program of an IOC event, including individual and team sports, eligibility for any Female Category is limited to biological females,” reads the new policy.
The policy states “eligibility for the Female Category is to be determined in the first instance by SRY Gene screening to detect the absence or presence of the SRY Gene.”
“On the basis of the scientific evidence, the IOC considers that the SRY (sex-determining Region Y) Gene is fixed throughout life and represents highly accurate evidence that an athlete has experienced or will experience male sex development,” it reads. “Furthermore, the IOC considers that SRY Gene screening via saliva, cheek swab or blood sample is unintrusive compared to other possible methods. Athletes who screen negative for the SRY gene permanently satisfy this policy’s eligibility criteria for competition in the Female Category.”
The policy states the test “will be a once-in-a-lifetime test” unless “there is reason to believe a negative reading is in error.”
The new regulation will be in place for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
“I understand that this a very sensitive topic,” said IOC President Kirsty Coventry on Thursday in a video. “As a former athlete, I passionately believe in the rights of all Olympians to take part in fair competition.”
“The policy that we have announced is based on science and it has been led by medical experts with the best interests of athletes at its heart. The scientific evidence is very clear: male chromosomes give performance advances in sport that rely on strength, power, or endurance,” she added. “At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat. So, it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. In addition, in some sports it would simply not be safe.”
(Video courtesy of the IOC)
Laurel Hubbard, a weightlifter from New Zealand, in 2021 became the first trans woman to compete at the Olympics.
Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer, won a gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Khelif later sued JK Rowling and Elon Musk for cyberstalking after they questioned her gender identity.
Ellis Lundholm, a mogul skier from Sweden, this year became the first openly trans athlete to compete in any Winter Olympics when he participated in Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy.
President Donald Trump in February 2025 issued an executive order that bans trans women and girls from female sports teams in the U.S.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee last July banned trans women from competing in female sporting events. Republican lawmakers have demanded the IOC ban trans athletes from women’s athletic competitions.
“I’m grateful the Olympics finally embraced the common sense policy that women’s sports are for women, not for men,” said U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on X.
An IOC spokesperson on Thursday referred the Washington Blade to the press release that announced the new policy.
More than a dozen LGBTQ athletes won medals at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that ended on Sunday.
Cayla Barnes, Hilary Knight, and Alex Carpenter are LGBTQ members of the U.S. women’s hockey team that won a gold medal after they defeated Canada in overtime. Knight the day before the Feb. 19 match proposed to her girlfriend, Brittany Bowe, an Olympic speed skater.
French ice dancer Guillaume Cizeron, who is gay, and his partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry won gold. American alpine skier Breezy Johnson, who is bisexual, won gold in the women’s downhill. Amber Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, was part of the American figure skating team that won gold in the team event.
Swiss freestyle skier Mathilde Gremaud, who is in a relationship with Vali Höll, an Austrian mountain biker, won gold in women’s freeski slopestyle.
Bruce Mouat, who is the captain of the British curling team that won a silver medal, is gay. Six members of the Canadian women’s hockey team — Emily Clark, Erin Ambrose, Emerance Maschmeyer, Brianne Jenner, Laura Stacey, and Marie-Philip Poulin — that won silver are LGBTQ.
Swedish freestyle skier Sandra Naeslund, who is a lesbian, won a bronze medal in ski cross.
Belgian speed skater Tineke den Dulk, who is bisexual, was part of her country’s mixed 2000-meter relay that won bronze. Canadian ice dancer Paul Poirier, who is gay, and his partner, Piper Gilles, won bronze.
Laura Zimmermann, who is queer, is a member of the Swiss women’s hockey team that won bronze when they defeated Sweden.
Outsports.com notes all of the LGBTQ Olympians who competed at the games and who medaled.
Sports
US wins Olympic gold medal in women’s hockey
Team captain Hilary Knight proposed to girlfriend on Wednesday
The U.S. women’s hockey team on Thursday won a gold medal at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Team USA defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime. The game took place a day after Team USA captain Hilary Knight proposed to her girlfriend, Brittany Bowe, an Olympic speed skater.
Cayla Barnes and Alex Carpenter — Knight’s teammates — are also LGBTQ. They are among the more than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes who are competing in the games.
The Olympics will end on Sunday.
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